1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the apparatus for processing electronically-captured optical images, and more particularly, to modifications to the system that result in improvements in speed, processing power, power consumption, and reduced complexity in the fabrication. A self-contained unit is described that can be used as a small stand-alone optical monitoring unit.
2. Background of the Invention
The importance in modern technology for a stand-alone optical processing and transmitting unit is evident from, for example, the popularity of cell phones to which have been added the capability of capturing and transmitting images. Referring to the FIG. 1, the components of an electronic apparatus for capturing and transmitting images according to the prior art is shown. A circuit board 10 has an image sensor unit 11 having photoreceptors for receiving optical images. The electronic signals of the image sensor unit 11 can be either applied to a processor unit 12 or applied directly to a memory unit 14. The processor 12, which controls the operation of the image sensor unit, can retrieve and store signal groups, including processed signal groups, in the memory unit 14. The processor unit 12 can forward signal groups to the wireless unit 15 for transmission. A power unit 19 provides power for the image sensor unit 11, the memory unit 14, the processor unit 12, and the wireless unit 15.
The system shown in FIG. 1 has been commercially successful. However, several problems have remained. For example, the power consumption is relatively high. Attempts to address this problem include providing “sleep” modes wherein portions of the systems are inactivated unless currently being used. In addition, the use of circuit boards requires long conducting paths that require additional power. The relatively long leads used with a circuit board limit the operating frequency. And the use of a plurality of components in a system complicates the fabrication of the device.
A need has therefore been felt for apparatus and an associated method having the feature of providing an optical image capture and transmission system with improved operating characteristics. It would be a more particular feature of the apparatus and associated method to provide a single image sensor/processor/memory unit in a stack configuration for use with an image acquisition and transmission system. It would be still another more particular object of the apparatus and associated method to provide an image acquisition and information transmission system in which all components are fabricated using a the same semiconductor process. It is a more particular object of the apparatus and associated method to fabricate an optical image acquisition and information transmission system using CMOS technology.